A medical device package typically consists of a paperboard, cardboard or plastic structure in which the medical device is packaged. A fundamental purpose of the packaging is to protect the medical device contained in the package from damage during shipping, handling and storage. In addition, such packages or packaging provide a protective barrier against environmental contaminants and against degradation, and frequently serve as a sterile barrier so that a sterile medical device remains in a sterile condition prior to use by the medical professional.
It is know that medical device packaging contributes significantly to the solid and medical waste that the typical hospital or medical practitioner must dispose of. Used medical device packaging often requires special disposal as regulated or "red-bagged" medical waste, with consequent increases in the costs of handling, storage and disposal for the hospital or medical practitioner.
There is a need in this art for medical device packaging that the hospital or medical practitioner could dispose of readily without having to dispose of it as regulated medical waste. In particular, medical device packaging made of materials which would be soluble and/or dispersible in water. The medical device packages made of such materials could then be disposed of by treatment in a device similar to a washing machine, a dishwasher or a garbage disposal. When contacted with water and agitated, the packaging materials would dissolve or disassociate to form a slurry or a dispersion, thereby permitting the resulting waste stream to be disposed of in the hospital's or medical practitioner's conventional sewer system which typically flows into a conventional treatment facility, publicly owned or private. The waste stream from the soluble or dispersible packaging would then be treated in the sewage treatment facility in a similar fashion to sanitary waste.